Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 Review and Gaming Performance

After leaving this website for about a month, now i’m glad that i can finally be back again here to share you more and more tablets that i haven’t reviewed on this site.

So you can expect some new tablets reviews in the next few days, hopefully, in the next few months (fingers’ crossed for that!).
Anyway, i have one awesome tablet from the manufacturer that you probably never heard before.

In fact, i’ve been really excited to show you this tablet since around 2 months ago given how amazing its specs really are.

This one is made by a company named Xiaomi – a popular Chinese smartphone manufacturer led by ex-Google executive, Hugo Barra, which you might already know as the person who used to announce Google’s latest tablet at Google I/O conference, like Google Nexus 7.

The Xiaomi tablet i’m about to show you right now actually has been available to buy since few weeks ago.

Unfortunately, given that this Xiaomi tablet is still a new release from the Chinese company, then you must be living in China if you want to be able to buy this tablet.

The good news is, from what i heard lately around Twitter, Xiaomi has already started its journey to sell this tablet outside its headquarter in China, for example like in Asian countries.

So you can expect to see this tablet arrive in your country probably in the next few months.

But if you’re really eager to know more about when exactly it will launch, you might want to bookmark this page for further information and updates in the near future regarding this tablet.

Okay then, introducing to you – Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9.

As the name of this tablet implies, Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 indeed is a 7.9-inch tablet running on Android platform – just like any Xiaomi’s smartphones that have been released to the market.

For those of you who never heard whatsoever about Xiaomi – especially its devices -, then you’ll probably assume that Xiaomi tablet is gonna suck in quality, right?

Well, you are totally wrong about that.

If you have seen what Xiaomi has delivered to the smartphone market in the past few years – like Xiaomi Redmi Note, Xiaomi Mi 3 (with Tegra 4 or Snapdragon 800) or Xiaomi Red Rice -, then you should start looking at this company differently from now on.

Xiaomi is a great smartphone manufacturer.

For you information, this company has managed to sell millions of smartphones every quarter of the year (although they are mostly sold in China).

In fact, Xiaomi recently became one of the 5 biggest smartphone manufacturers in the world, competing with Samsung, Apple, LG and many more.

So when it comes to popularity and of course, sales, it’s clearly that Xiaomi has the potential to be a big name like Apple or Samsung in the near future.

Xiaomi Mi Pad

Speaking about Xiaomi tablet, there are many things to be liked from Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9.

However, what makes Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 a great quality tablet - in fact, an iPad mini killer - is definitely its specs. I’m not going to talk really deeper into the entire spec of this tablet.

But in the simple words, the specs of this tablet are simply monster.

It features a quad-core Tegra K1 processor with a staggering 192-core Kepler GPU – which you might know already, as the GPU that can deliver 3 time graphics performance as Apple’s latest A7 chipset -,

an 8MP rear-facing camera (which takes amazing shots, according to many reviews!),

a huge battery capacity,

but the most importantly, Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 amazingly only costs around $249.

Can you believe that?

Interestingly, similar just like iPad mini with Retina Display, Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 takes a lot of 'inspirations' from that Apple’s mini tablet.

As a matter of fact, this Xiaomi tablet looks really identical with iPad mini in many ways.

It has the same exact 7.9 inch display, the same exact 1536 x 2048 pixel resolution, the same exact 4:3 aspect ratio and the same exact design.

So it’s really clear for us to see that Xiaomi wants to challenge Apple with its monster spec’d tablet.

Well, if you're really interested to know more the whole thing about this tablet, then here you go, my personal review of Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9.

Anyway, if you feel this review is really helpful and informative for you, it would be awesome if you could share it to your friends using the social media icons around this page.

Your contribution would be really appreciated here.

Introduction

As you might have known already (or not), Xiaomi actually is more popular for its high-spec’d affordable smartphones instead of tablets - like Xiaomi Redmi Note, Mi 3 or Red Rice.

However, it’s still interesting to finally see how this company has guts to jump to tablet market with its own homemade tablet.

I mean, if smartphones made by Xiaomi already look impressive in terms of specs and quality, then (hopefully) we can expect the same thing on the tablets made by this company.

With Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9, this Chinese-based smartphone maker has high hopes that this tablet could be a big hit in tablet market in the near future, competing with even iPad mini, Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro or LG G Pad 8.3.

Well, seeing how powerful its specs, i believe that goal is not impossible to achieve, especially since this company has been really great in selling its smartphones.

The reason why i’m so excited to bring up this tablet to all of you here is mainly because Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 packs some monster specs on it, especially with its Tegra K1 processor and high-resolution display.

That’s not so surprising because in many of my previous reviews, i’ve been talking a lot about how amazed i am with Tegra processor delivered by NVIDIA.

So when i found out that this Xiaomi’s tablet would be the world’s first tablet using the Tegra K1 processor, i had no single doubt to review this tablet and show it to all of you here, especially for those of you who are looking for an affordable tablet but with monster specs and great gaming performance (which we’ll get more on that later).

And the final reason is, Xiaomi has sold millions of smartphones all across the world and in fact, this company is already considered as one of the top 5 biggest smartphone manufacturers on this planet, competing with Apple, Samsung, LG and many others.

So there is no question anymore that Xiaomi smartphones will be great in the whole aspect – especially the specs and quality.

It goes the same with Xiaomi’s latest tablet - Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9.

It has monster specs under the hood, it has a nice-looking UI, it has powerful performance, it has smooth experience and the most importantly, this tablet is more than capable to handle all of Android games that you see on Google Play Store today – even the most graphically demanding ones – no doubt about that.

But the question is, with all of those goodies offered on this tablet, does Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 have what it takes to become an iPad mini killer?

Design

As i already mentioned above, similar just like the current-gen iPad mini, Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 interestingly takes a lot of 'inspirations' from Apple’s mini tablet.

First of all, this tablet looks exactly like iPad mini – at a glance.

And then, if we go deeper to the specs, this Xiaomi tablet interestingly has the same 7.9-inch display as well as the same exact 1536x2048 pixel resolution, it adopts the same 4:3 aspect ratio on its screen, and last but not least, Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 also comes pre-installed with simple UI, which bears a striking resemblance with the UI of iOS 7 – although Xiaomi tablet has different looking icons compared to the icons used on iOS 7.

So by looking at the entire thing of Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9, then it’s really obvious that this tablet is indeed trying to copy Apple’s tablet in many ways.

It has the same looking design, it has the same exact screen size and resolution, it adopts the same 4:3 ratio and it has the same looking UI.

First of all, its power Tegra K1 processor (which we’re about to talk more later), and then its cameras, its hardware specs and last but not least, its build quality.

If Apple’s iPad mini 2 has been known to have a premium build quality and material, then it’s the other way around with Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9.

Unlike Apple’s tablet that uses solid aluminum material, this Xiaomi’s tablet interestingly only uses plastic material, similar just like what Apple used on iPhone 5C.

However - according to many reviews i’ve already seen on YouTube -, even though this tablet only uses plastic material, its build quality is still acceptable and in fact, pretty good for an affordable tablet like this.

So if you’re planning to getting this tablet in the near future, you’ll make no mistake because it is still a great quality tablet.

In terms of spec sheet, Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 is definitely well prepared in that sector.

Compared to other mid-end tablets across the market – like Sony Xperia Z2, LG G Pad 8.3 or even iPad mini 2 – i think Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 looks more impressive than those rivals – of course in terms of specs and performance.

It comes with a 7.9-inch display sporting the resolution of 1536x2058 pixels with the pixel density of -324ppi, a quad-core Tegra K1 processor clocked at 2.2GHz per core, 192-core Kepler GPU, 2GB of RAM, 16GB/64GB of internal storage, expandable microSD card for up 128GB (impressive!), 8MP rear-facing camera (that's able to take decent shots), 5MP front-facing camera, 6700mAh battery and many other standard features like Bluetooth, WiFi, Java emulator and USB.

Unfortunately, there are no FM radio, GPS and cellular connectivity on this tablet – although it’s not that surprising given that this powerful tablet only costs around $250/$270 for the 16GB and 64GB models respectively.

Overall, i’m definitely impressed a lot with this tablet.

I really like its highest-resolution display, its 8MP and 5MP rear and front cameras respectively, a huge 6700mAh battery, its 128GB microSD card slot capability, its insanely powerful Tegra K1 processor with 192-core Kepler GPU, but the one thing that really makes me amazed with this tablet is definitely its price point.

I just can’t imagine how Xiaomi could cram all of those high-grade specs into this tablet but could still manage to keep the price this low.

There is no doubt that this Xiaomi tablet could indeed gain a massive success just like iPad mini 2.

And seeing how Xiaomi has always been really great in selling its Android devices, i have no single doubt this Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 could be the next best selling device from this company in the near future – just like its smartphone line.

But i have doubts this tablet could ever arrive safely in the US.

Given Apple's history of filing lawsuits to its rivals, Apple’s lawyers are more than happier to drag this Chinese-based manufacturer to the US court given that its tablet really resembles exactly the design of iPad mini.

So if you’re living in the US, you probably should find another way if you really want to buy this tablet.

Screen

Besides its Tegra K1 processor, the other strongest point found on this tablet is definitely its high-resolution display.

Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 is packing a 7.9-inch display with the resolution of 1536x2048 pixels (and pixel density of -359ppi), which 'blatantly' copies the same exact 7.9-inch display of iPad mini Retina Display.

However, screen size and resolution are actually not the only things that Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 borrows from Apple’s mini tablet.

This Xiaomi’s tablet interestingly also adopts the same 4:3 aspect ratio just like the iPad mini.

So as a result, at the glance, Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 looks exactly like the iPad mini.

Not to mention, given its similar design language and plastic material, many people around the tech world even call this Xiaomi tablet as the “plastic” variant of the iPad mini or the “iPhone 5C” of iPad mini – which sounds kind of funny for me.

Anyway, when it comes to build quality and material, then it’s really obvious that Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 is not on the same level as Apple iPad mini 2 – no doubt about that.

But that doesn’t mean that this Xiaomi tablet is gonna suck in build quality. According to many reviews, despite using the plastic material, Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 still feels and looks pretty good in its class.

Besides, for an affordable tablet that costs only $250/$270 (for the 16GB and 64GB models respectively), i think we cannot fire complaints on the build quality and plastic material used on this device.

With all of the high-end powerful hardware specs inside this tablet, Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 still deserves to be positioned alongside other high-end rivals on the tablet market to date – even alongside the iPad mini 2.

User Interface

Unlike other regular Android tablets out there, Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 comes pre-installed with Xiaomi’s homemade Android UI called MIUI – similar just like what Amazon does with Fire OS on its Kindle Fire tablets and Amazon Fire phone, which actually is the simplified version of Android OS.

So the UI of all Xiaomi’s Android devices doesn’t look like the normal Android’s stock UI.

So they don’t have the standard Android homescreen (although you can still add widgets or app shortcuts on homescreen) and many other elements that you’ve already come to love on your current Android device.

There are many Android users who like the MIUI of Xiaomi devices, but there are also many who hate it – maybe because it doesn’t offer all the complete elements or features of stock Android OS.

So if you are planning to get any of Xiaomi devices in the near future, then you must also accept the fact that you’re not gonna get the full Android experience and features on your Xiaomi device – although you probably can still root and install Android stock UI on that Xiaomi device.

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In terms of performance, no single doubt that Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 will scream.

Thanks to the quad-core Tegra K1 processor with the clock speed of 2.3GHz per core, 2GB of RAM and a staggering 192-core Kepler GPU, this tablet is more than capable to do everything that you wanna do in smooth lag-free performance.

If you want to watch full HD movies or TV shows – you got it.

If you want to read books or magazines – this tablet is definitely a great device for that matter, the text can be read easily and everything in the contents just looks sharp and crisp.

It goes the same when browsing the web – the text looks sharp and everything can be read easily without doing a lot of pinch-to-zoom gesture.

As a gaming tablet, probably there are not many devices that can match the gaming performance of this tablet (or at least for now).

As i’ve already heard several times, Tegra K1 processor along with its 192-core Kepler GPU is insanely powerful and even can match the graphical performance of today’s desktops.

And this processor proved to be capable to deliver 3 times the graphics performance as Apple’s latest A7 chipset (with PowerVR G6430 GPU).

So with that being said, then the Tegra K1 inside this Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 is now considered as the most powerful chipset around the tablet market to date.

So for playing games, it’s really obvious that Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 will excel in that sector perfectly well.

From the games like Minion Rush or Temple Run 2, to the most graphically demanding games like Modern Combat 4, Asphalt 8, N.O.V.A 3, GTA San Andreas or even Modern Combat 5, this Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 is more than capable to handle these heavy games in smooth performance, even in full highest graphics setting.

And more amazingly, given its powerful graphics chipset, this tablet is also capable to run many new heavy apps that actually are released exclusively only for Tegra K1 devices – like Unreal Engine 4 demos, Trine 2 (which is a PS3 game) and some other PS3 or console ports.

There are probably many other new apps that will be well-optimized for Tegra K1 devices like Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 in the near future.

So if you decide to get this tablet or any other Tegra K1 tablets, you’ll definitely get more advantages and maybe specific apps that probably can’t be found on other non-Tegra K1 tablets.

I’m also positive that this tablet is still capable to handle most of the graphics intense games that are gonna launch this year or even next year (or even the next 2 years), like the next Need for Speed, the next Asphalt game, the next Dead Trigger and other future games – no single doubt about that.

I even think that the Tegra K1 on this tablet is powerful enough to challenge the future tablets in the future.

So if you happen to be a hard core tablet gamer, then you’ll make no mistake when getting this tablet.

Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 is a perfect and probably the best gaming tablet around the market to date, alongside NVIDIA Shield Tablet (also with Tegra K1).

Anyway guys, if you want to know more about the gaming performance of Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9, including what games that will run on this tablet, check out my YouTube video playlist or Pinterest page. :)

Camera

One of the best things of buying this Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 is that - besides getting a really powerful Tegra K1 processor and high-resolution full HD display - you’ll also get an 8MP camera on the back and 5MP camera on the front.

So if you’re into tablet photography, then you’ll be happy to hear that the camera quality of Xiaomi devices – including this Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 -, doesn’t suck.

As a matter of fact, the camera of this tablet amazingly is able to take decent quality photos and 720p videos just like iPad mini 2 or iPad Air.

As i’ve already seen on many reviews of this Xiaomi tablet, Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 amazingly is capable to take some great looking photos and videos with its camera.

And that’s quite surprising given that this tablet is made by a Chinese-based manufacturer – which many non-tech geeks would assume as crappy quality tablet.

And that’s totally wrong because – as i mentioned already above – Xiaomi is now led by ex-Google executive, Hugo Barra, which used to be responsible in Google Android department.

And then this company is also endorsed and supported a lot by one of Apple’s founders – Steve Wozniak -, which always said many great things about this company and its products.

Not to mention, Xiaomi also has managed to become one of the 5 biggest smartphone manufacturers on this planet – selling over millions units of devices every year, even competing against Apple and Samsung.

So with all of these facts, then you should definitely start looking at this company differently. Xiaomi is a great smartphone manufacturer.

It has great products and their quality is great – despite being affordable devices. And i believe it can go the same with Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 tablet.

The photos and videos taken with the camera of this tablet look really great, even for macro photography.

Battery Life

It’s great to hear that Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 features a huge 6700mAh power battery inside.

This battery capacity actually can be considered as huge given that many 7 to 8-inch tablets are mostly packing around 4000mAh to 7000mAh battery.

Compared to one tablet i just reviewed lately – Sony Xperia Tablet Z2 that comes with 6000mAh battery -, i think the 6700mAh battery inside this Xiaomi tablet could deliver an equal battery life with that Sony’s tablet, especially given the fact that Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 is packing a 1536x2048 pixel display, compared to Sony Xperia Tablet Z2 that comes with 1920x1200 pixel display – which has lower amount of pixels than the screen of Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9.

Not to mention, Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 is also powered by an insanely powerful Tegra K1 processor with a staggering 192-core Kepler GPU.

So this processor – which is power hungry - probably could take a lot of juice from the 6700mAh battery inside this tablet.

The good thing is, Xiaomi doesn’t come pre-installed with such a heavy software and UI just like on Sony Xperia Tablet Z2 with its heavy UI and pre-loaded features.

Not to mention, on the MIUI of this tablet, Xiaomi also provides many cool and useful features that have something to do with battery management (like the ability to kill all apps simultaneously in the background, etc).

So this hopefully could help a lot in making the battery life of this Xiaomi tablet last much longer even in heavy usage.

I haven’t known exactly about the battery life of Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 or how long this tablet could last in one day.

I believe with that simplified UI and features that this tablet comes pre-installed with, you can expect to see this tablet last probably a full day – of course in one full charge.

But that’s on moderate usage with combined screen on/off time.

However, if you’re type of power users and would like to use this tablet for doing some heavy intense tasks – like watching full HD movies in marathon or playing games in the row, without stopping or resting the screen at all -, the battery life of this tablet could probably only last around 7 to 9 hours, which is great for a 7.9-inch tablet.

I believe its 'power-hungry' Tegra K1 and its high-resolution display could be the ones to blame if the battery life of this tablet could only last much shorter than expected.

According to GSMarena, the 6700mAh power battery inside this tablet could deliver for up to 11 hours for talk time or for enjoying media, and for up to 86 hours for music play – which as i mentioned above, is great enough for a media-consumption tablet like this one.

My Personal Opinions

It’s really obvious that through Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9, this company has high hopes that its tablet could copy the success that Apple has achieved with its iPad mini Retina Display.

That’s the reason why this Chinese-based company decides to 'blatantly' copy the entire thing of Apple’s mini tablet – from the design language, the screen specs, the UI and icons, etc.

I’m not sure if this strategy would work greatly nor help this tablet gain the same success as Apple’s mini tablet on the global market – as well as its sales -, but the one thing for sure, when it comes to specs, there’s no question that Xiaomi could turn out to be an iPad mini killer.

I mean, in performance department – according to many benchmark tests -, it’s been proved that the Tegra K1 processor inside this Xiaomi tablet is capable to deliver 3 times of graphics performance as iPad mini with Retina Display (A7 SoC with PowerVR G6430 GPU).

And more amazingly, this Xiaomi’s tablet also employs the same exact “Retina Display” just like Apple’s mini tablet (1536x2048 pixels).

So if this Xiaomi’s tablet already proved to be capable to kill Apple’s tablet in the sector really really well – which is the sector that Apple always brags about on this tablet -, then it makes it easier for me to take conclusion that Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 could be a much better choice than iPad mini – of course in terms of specs and performance.

Not to mention, the fact that this tablet is much cheaper than Apple’s mini slate ($250/$270 for 16GB/64GB models) also adds up one extra point for Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 over iPad mini 2.

To make it easier for you to decide whether you should buy this Xiaomi tablet or not, i will highlight some of the most important things to be liked on Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9. And those are:

its high-resolution display (which according to reviews, is great quality display),

it has iPad mini’s elements (the same looking design, the same exact screen resolution, the same screen size, the same pixel density, the same 4:3 aspect ratio and the same looking simple UI and icons),

it has an insanely powerful Tegra K1 processor with 192-core Kepler GPU (which according to many benchmark tests, could deliver 3 times of graphical performance as Apple’s A7 chipset),

its 2GB of RAM (which is huge enough to keep the performance steady),

its great quality 8MP camera on the back and 5MP camera on the front (many reviews agree that the cameras of this Xiaomi tablet are great),

its affordable price point ($250 for the 16GB model and $270 for the 64GB model),

its ability for expandable microSD card for up to staggering 128GB (Damn!!)

its huge battery capacity (6700mAh power battery),

its complete set of features (Bluetooth, WiFi, Java MIDP, complete sensors, USB, etc)

However, there are also some downsides found on this tablet. And they are:

Lack of autofocus and LED flash on its rear-facing camera

Lack of FM radio and GPS

Lack of cellular connectivity

Cheap looking plastic back cover

So with all of these pros and cons presented to you, it’s now yours to decide whether this tablet is worth buying for you or not.

But if you ask me, Yes, definitely – this tablet is a worth buying tablet.

Disclaimer: Hi guys, bear in mind that this is not some in-depth review. This is Read more...